5 Health Tips for the Holiday Season

December is usually synonymous with an abundance of eating and a lack of exercise. We want to encourage you to start this New Year on the right foot. The holidays are a time for celebration and family, not to put on weight. It's almost as if we've come to accept that we are going to put on 10 pounds during each holiday season.

Celebration doesn't have to mean gluttonous eating, or deprivation for that matter. It's time to bring the focus back to the purpose of the holiday. Enjoy your friends and family, the time off and the traditions of the holidays. 

The holiday season might not be a time to lose weight, but it doesn't have to be a time to lose your health. The key is to go into the holidays with a plan. Here are five ways to keep your health over the holidays. 

Tip #1: Shop Well For Yourself 
 It is more important then ever to stock your kitchen with healthy foods. Have healthy snacks handy. The more convenient they are, the more likely you are to eat them. Instead of thinking about what you shouldn't eat, promise to eat your 3 to 5 servings of vegetables each day.

Tips #2: Schedule Your Exercise 
Your schedule will be very hectic this holiday season. Schedule your workouts just as you would any other appointment. It's ok if you can't make it to class, but make sure that you get some activity in at least three days per week. 
 
Tip #3: Just Say No
You probably aren't aware how much extra food you consume just from people offering it to you. A sample at the market here, an extra cookie at an office party there and it all adds up. Just think twice before you take that food and decide if you really want it. 

Tip #4: Skip the Baking
Do you make baked goods for giving? Chances are you eat much of what you bake. Who wouldn't? Instead make non-food gifts, or prepare ingredients for baked goods and put them in pretty jars--let your gift recipient bake it up. That way, they can eat it when they want it and you don't have to be tempted in the kitchen. 

Tip #5: Hydrate
Keep your water bottle with you at all times. You should be drinking eight, 8-oz glasses of water each day. One handy trick is to buy a 64 ounce water jug. Fill it up in the morning and know that you need to finish it by the end of the day.

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Keep Calm & Eat Less Sugar During Holidays

The Holiday Season is upon us. A wonderful time to enjoy our family, buying presents, and engaging in holiday merriment. One thing that is synonymous with the holidays is baked goods, sweets, and candies. It’s no wonder that a lot of us, even those of us who lead an incredibly healthy lifestyle, end up loading up on sugar much more than we usually do. You won’t fall ill from one holiday indulgence, of course, but the problem is that sugar has addictive properties—and what begins as an innocent treat can easily morph into a daily sugar fix. When you eat a sugary food, a flood of dopamine is released in your brain. That dopamine creates an increased sugar tolerance, requiring you to eat more to get that same feeling of pleasure.

Most of us know that consuming too much sugar regularly is directly linked to diseases like obesity and diabetes. But what you may not know is that it’s also been linked to cancer, and even degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Being mindful this holiday season can carry over into a lifetime of great choices for your over all health.

Our Nutritionist Kelli Bonomo offers these 5 tips to help keep yourself on track, maximize your Nutrition and avoid the Holiday Fat Trap:

1. ) Always keep your Blood Sugar Stable: Three ways to keep your blood sugar stable: Keep meal   intervals to every 3-4 hours, implement the correct portions and watch the ratios of protein, carbs and fats.

2.) When you have a holiday party, dinner or event, keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day. This is the key to preventing weight gain.

3.) If you are going to indulge in the holiday feast, be sure that you get back on track 3 hours later by eating a balance of protein and fat to help lower your blood sugar and prevent weight gain.

4.) When having a cocktail, glass of wine, or a beer, always remove any complex or starchy carbohydrates from the meal, your body has the potential to store alcohol as fat.

5.) Water helps your liver metabolize fat... hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, especially if you have fallen off plan. Flush that body with water to move out all the extra sodium, sugar and alcohol!

Want to keep your nutrition in check into the New Year? Coming in January, Nutritionist Kelli Bonomo will be offering a program "LOOK GREAT IN 8, DITCH THE SCALE" a coaching program that will include:

* 8 week Nutritional coaching series: Includes 3 phases: Detox, Ignite and Thrive
* 1-hour coaching event every Wednesday evening for 8 weeks (time TBA)
* 2 week supply of CORE Meal replacement shakes
* 3 months FREE Access to Online Nutritional Software, includes meal plans, recipe and additional      tools at the THRIVE phase of coaching
* Before and After measurements, weight, body fat and pictures
* More information coming soon!!

CLICK HERE 

For information about the Nutritional Coaching available at Sana Vita Studio 

CLICK HERE 

For information about our studio

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Beat Winter Weight Gain

Do you dread the winter months and putting on winter pounds? Contrary to popular belief, there’s no scientific evidence to prove that we’re biologically predisposed to weight gain in the colder months. Unless you’re a bear, that is. Weight gain during this time is related to holiday eating and a decrease in exercise during the colder months. Research shows that we tend to gain one or two pounds between late November and early January. That may be a lot less than you thought you’d gained eating Grandma’s stuffing, but studies also suggest that we often don’t lose that weight year after year. “It may be that when spring comes around, you see a few more pounds on the scale than you saw the year before”

A great way to maintain your weight though the winter months is to cook meals from scratch.

The simplest way to control your weight is to eat more home-cooked meals made from whole ingredients, Freedhoff says. “There is probably nothing more straightforward than markedly reducing meals out, packing lunches every single day and avoiding the processed food aisle,” he says, adding that meals made with whole ingredients such as lean meats, fruits and vegetables will almost certainly have lower calorie counts than processed and pre-made food.

A wonderful way to embrace the colder months is to cook what is in season. Pumpkins and other fall squash are low in calories, and packed with fiber, vitamin C,making then a healthy addition to your diet. Here is a wonderful recipe for Butternut Squash Shells that is creamy and delicious without the guilt.
Are you interested in learning more tips on keeping your weight in check this season?

Join us at Sana Vita Studio for a FREE TALK with our Nutritionist Kelli Bonomo on How to Avoid the Holiday Fat Trap and Maximize your Nutrition.

November 8th at 1pm SIGN UP HERE space is limited. Sign up to win a FREE 7 Day detox here... only one will win and they must be present at the lecture to win! (99.00 Value)

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WIN A FREE 7 DAY DETOX PROGRAM

If your goal is to lose weight and exercise more, forget the deprivation diet and marathon workouts. Research shows that taking baby steps...not giant leaps, is the best way to get lasting results. The only nutrition intervention is by building habits slowly, strategically and progressively over time. So what can you do?


Ideal Practices:

Must be able to do it daily
Easy to understand / measure
Feel small, but strategic
Inspire Confidence

Do you think you need help with these ideal practices? We at Sana Vita Studio believe those who achieve great things rarely, if ever, do it alone. They enlist their support team; they surround themselves with the right people who enable them to succeed. We want to be a huge part of you support team to help you achieve your goals. Here is where our nutritional coach Kelli Bonomo, can help you achieve your goals by making you part of the process. Once you take ownership of your life's choices you will see amazing results.

Time and time again do you find yourself in the, "I'll start Monday" Rut? Well, this happens to us all, we get off plan, and then decide ok, I"m gonna start my diet and workouts on Monday and get back on track. Before you know it, Monday comes around and you are in the same old routine, not planning your meals or workouts and it turns into one vicious cycle, week after week. Here's how you break the cycle: Start with the 1% mindset. If I do 1% better today than I did yesterday, then I am still winning! I don't have to be an all or nothing person. That's not real life, and that is definitely not sustainable! Once these small incremental changes in your nutrition and your exercise plan become second nature, they'll benefit you for a lifetime. Don't look at your goals as unattainable, but rather tackle them 1% at a time.

Are you unsure where to even start? We invite you to our talk:

Saturday November 8th at 1:00pm for a talk with Kelli Bonomo on the "Five Tips To Avoid The Holiday Fat Trap and Maximize Your Nutrition." SIGN UP HERE

We will be giving away a FREE 7 DAY Detox Program. Enter Here, you must be present to win!!!